History and Development of Written Word

Cave Paintings

9600 BCE

Anthropologist are now looking closer at cave paintings as a form of communication. Von Petzinger, a PhD student at the University of Victoria who has been studying prehistoric signs in European caves for a decade, says they suggest "the first glimmers of graphic communication" before the written word. Cave paintings acted as a precursor before the development of written word, as the development of a writing system had to come from some basic idea.

Cuneiform

3100 BCE

Written word emerges in around 3100 BCE in Sumer, Mesopotamia. This system of writing was called Cuneiform and was made by drawing marks in wet clay with a reed implement. In cuneiform, a stylus is pressed into soft clay to produce wedge-like mark that represent word-signs (pictographs) and, later, phonograms or (word-concepts).

Cuneiform Cont.

3100 BCE

Early cuneiform tablets were known as proto-cuneiform. At first, cuneiform was representational. A bull might be represented by a picture of a bull, and a pictograph of barley signified the word barley. The writings became abstract as it evolved to encompass more abstract concepts, eventually creating the writing system of Cuneiform. The evolution of Cuneiform occurred in stages. In stage one it was used for commercial transactions and the transactions were represented by tokens.

Cuneiform Cont.

3100 BCE

In the next stage, pictographs were drawn into wet clay, replacing the token method. With cuneiform, writers could tell stories, relate histories, and support the rule of kings. Furthermore, cuneiform was used to communicate and formalize legal systems, most famously Hammurabi’s Code.
The expansion of cuneiform began in the 3rd millennium, when the country of Elam in southwestern Iran adopted the system of writing.

Cuneiform Cont.

3100 BCE

The Elamite version of cuneiform continued into the 1st millennium BCE. It also provided the Indo-European Persians with the model for creating a new simplified quasi-alphabetic cuneiform writing for the Old Persian language.
The Hurrians in northern Mesopotamia adopted a different form of cuneiform around 2000 BCE and passed it on to the Indo-European Hittites.
In the 2nd millennium cuneiform writing became a universal medium of written communication.

Hieroglyphics

3000 BCE

The Egyptian characters were names hieroglyphs by the Greeks in about 500 BC, because this form of writing was used for holy texts. 'Hieros' and 'Glypho' mean 'sacred' and 'engrave' in Greek. The Egyptian scribe would use a fine reed pen to write on the smooth surface of the papyrus scroll.

The seals of the Indus valley

2500 BCE

The Indus script, although not deciphered yet, is known from its thousands of seals, carved in steatite or soapstone.
Usually the center of each seal has a realistic depiction of an animal, with a short line of formal symbols. The lack of longer scripts or texts suggests that this script was probably only used for trading and accountancy purposes.

Chinese Writing

1600 BCE

The last of the early civilizations to develop writing is China. Chinese characters are extremely difficult when printing, typewriting or word-processing because of the complex characters. Yet they have survived.
The non-phonetic Chinese script has been a crucial binding agent in China's vast empire. Those who are often unable to speak each other's language, have been able to communicate fluently in writing through Chinese script.

The First American Script

Period: 1500 BCE to 400 BCE

The Olmec, are regarded as America's first civilization, existed from about 1500 to 400 BC. They lived in what is known as the Olmec heartland, in Mexico on the southern tip of the Gulf of Mexico.
Cascajal Block, an ancient slab of writing which is thought to be the oldest known writing system in the Western Hemisphere. This block dates to the first millennia BC. The block shows linear arrangements of certain characters that appear to be depictions of tribal objects.

Phonetics and the ABCs

1100 BCE

Phoenician was the first major phonemic script. Compared to Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, it contained only about two dozen distinct letters. This script was simple enough that everyone could learn it. Because it recorded words phonetically, it could be used in any language, unlike the writing systems that were already existent. The script was spread by the Phoenicians across the Mediterranean.

Phonetics and the Alphabet

1099 BCE

In Greece, vowels were added to the script, giving rise to the first true alphabet. The Greeks took letters which did not represent sounds in Greek, and changed them to represent the vowels.With both vowels and consonants as explicit symbols in a single script, this made the script a true alphabet. In the early years, there were many variations of the Greek alphabet, and many alphabets evolved from this one.

Phonetics and the Alphabet

1098 BCE

The Romans in their turn developed the Greek alphabet to form letters suitable for the writing of Latin. Through the Roman empire the alphabet spread through Europe, and eventually through much of the world, as a standard system of writing

Cuneiform Cont.

500 BCE

Cuneiform and its international prestige of the 2nd millennium had been exhausted by 500 BCE.

Arabic Script

500 BCE

The Arabic alphabet is one of the most used writing systems in the world. It can be found in large parts of Africa and Western and Central Asia, as well as in smaller communities in East Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Although Arabic scripts are most common after creation of Islam in the 7th century CE, the origin of the Arabic alphabet lies goes further back.

Arabic Script Cont

401 BCE

The Nabataeans, who established a kingdom in modern-day Jordan, were Arabs. They wrote with a cursive Aramaic-derived alphabet that would eventually evolve into the Arabic alphabet.
Nabataean inscriptions continue to appear until the 4th century CE, coinciding with the first inscriptions in the Arabic alphabet.

Mayan Writing

Period: 300 BCE to 1700

The writing system of the Mayan developed from the less sophisticated systems of the Olmec civilization. The Mayans began their writing system during the second half of the Middle Pre Classic period. The system of writing used by the Mayan people until the end of the 17th century, 200 years after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Ulfilas and the Gothic Alphabet

Period: 301 to 400

Ulfilas’ outstanding contribution to writing is his invention of the Gothic alphabet, which he created from Greek and Latin. Ulfilas invented the Gothic alphabet, a writing system, in the 4th century AD. The Gothic alphabet had 27 letters. The Gothic alphabet is similar to Greek and Latin, but there are differences in phonetic values and in the order of the letters.

Hieroglyphics

400

In 700 BC the pressure of business caused the Egyptian scribes to develop a more abbreviated version of the hieratic script. Parts were still the same Egyptian hieroglyphs, established more than 2000 years before, but they are now so elided that the result looks like an entirely new script. Known as demotic ('for the people'), it is harder to read than the earlier written versions of hieroglyphics. Both hieroglyphics and demotic continue to be used until about 400 AD.

Manuscripts

Period: 601 to 1500

Manuscripts gained popularity in Italy in the 7th to 8th century. People began using them to create a neat and formal look with all capital letters. To emphasize the beginning of an important passage, first letter was written much larger than the rest of the text and in a grander style. The following letters were in smaller ordinary text. This distinction between capital and under case letters, is the same one we use today.

Printing Press

1500

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century. This invention furthered the ability to mass produce books and the rapid spread of knowledge throughout Europe.
Gutenberg's invention was inspired by the Chinese monks who set ink into paper using a method known as block printing. Block printing is the process in which wooden blocks are coated with ink and pressed to sheets of paper.

Paper

1841

Charles Fenerty invented paper from wood pulp as early around 1841. He was concerned about the difficulty a local paper mill was having in obtaining an adequate supply of rags to make quality paper, so he created his own.

Emoji Texting

Feb 1, 2019

Today many teens communicate through emojis. Experts say emojis can help some teenagers express themselves. Nearly 40 percent of Millennials, or people between 18 and 34, say emojis and GIFs are a much better way to communicate their thoughts and feelings than words.